Disclaimer: Avatar: the Last Airbender belongs to Bryke and Nickelodeon, not me.
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Drabble #11: "Blood"
Setting: During second season
The cold numbness shot through her side. Toph screamed and stumbled forward, tumbling to the ground.
I'm okay. I'm okay. It's just a-
Something hot and sticky gushed over her stomach. Toph touched her side. The warm viscous liquid clung to her fingers.
"I'm bleeding," she mumbled. "I'm bleeding!"
Toph shivered and clutched her side. The hot pain radiated through her body. She had never been wounded like this before. Scrapes, yes. Cuts, yes. Bruises, by the dozen. Even a few broken bones. But bleeding?
Toph's heart pounded. Her blood sloshed through her veins, crashing and coursing through her body. The wound pulsed. Blood leaked through the gash. She could feel every fluctuation, every drop, every pump. Toph covered her eyes with the back of her forearm and whimpered, gnawing on her lip. Her blood coursed through her body and gushed out in a sickening wave.
"Toph?"
Her body went cold. Sokka knelt next to her, throwing his boomerang in the dirt. "Toph, hold still," he commanded. His fingers probed the wound, slipping against the edges.
"Don't!" she cried, trying to pull away. She fell back into the pooling blood and let out a choked sob.
"Just hold still. I need to get the knife out of you," he said.
Toph's head swam as the knife wriggled in her side. "Sokka, I can't!" she said. "I c-can't!" She gripped his forearm and tried to sit up. The pain in her side intensified.
"I have to," he said grimly as he tried to tug the knife free.
The ground beneath Toph swayed and spun. "Sokka, I'm going to…I'm can't…I feel…"
--
Toph fell back, her hand slipping from his arm. "Toph!" Sokka called. He shook her shoulder lightly; she flopped like a rag doll. "Toph, stay with me, okay? Stay with me!"
Sokka glanced back at her unconscious face and then at the throwing knife lodged in the girl's side. At least she can't feel it right now. With a quick, careful movement he pulled out the knife. Fresh hot blood rushed over his hands. Sokka unbuckled Toph's belt and threw it to the side. He pulled her clothes away, exposing the dark gash in her soft white skin.
"Katara!" he screamed. "Katara!"
His sister still fought with Mai. "Sokka, I'm-"
"Let Aang handle it, I need you!" he shouted. He stared down at Toph's still, ashen face. Her gray lips gaped open.
Katara fell to her knees beside them. "What happened to her?" she demanded.
"A throwing knife," Sokka said.
Katara pulled out her bending water. "She's losing blood," she said. "She's losing it fast."
Sokka pulled off his tunic, hastily folded it, and pressed it against Toph's side. "Will that help?" he asked.
Katara nodded. "It should," she said. "How long has she been out?"
"A few minutes," Sokka said. He readjusted the makeshift tourniquet.
Katara lifted Toph's small feet onto her knees and rubbed her ankles. "Once the bleeding has slowed down I can close the wound," she said. Her eyes were anxious.
Sokka pulled Toph's tunic free and stroked his hand across her thin little stomach. "Come on, wake up," he coaxed. He pressed the wadded cloth harder against the raw edges of her wound.
Toph's head turned slightly. "She's waking up," Katara said, relieved.
Sokka cupped his hand under her little chin. "Come on, Toph," he said. "You're going to be okay."
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Her mind felt thick and her tongue felt heavy. Something pressed against her side and her stomach, and someone's fingers rubbed against her ankles. "What happened?" she mumbled.
"You got hurt, Toph," Sokka said, his voice grave and gentle.
Her body throbbed, the blood waving from her heart through her veins and against the firm pressure on her side. "Am I going to die?" she quavered.
A warm angular cheek pressed against her soft freezing one. "No, no, you're not going to die," Sokka said. "I'll make sure off that."
Katara pulled the soaked cloth away from the gap in her side. "I'm going close up the wound, all right?" she said. "Sokka, hold her still."
Toph braced herself against Sokka's knee. His hands closed around her shoulders and stomach. The water stung against her ripped skin. Toph cried out.
"It's okay, it's okay," Sokka said, his grip intensifying.
Katara bended the water over the wound, helping to close the gap. It burned terribly. Toph jerked up, choking on a sob. "Please don't cry, Toph, please don't cry," Sokka begged.
The burning pain continued, brushing back and forth, back and forth over the torn skin. Toph gulped for breath, struggling to stay still. Sokka held her gently. Katara closed the wound and wrapped bandages over her side.
Toph sagged in Sokka's arms, and her hands brushed against his tunic; it felt thick and wet. "I bled all over you," she said.
"I don't care," he said firmly. Sokka wrapped his arms around her, nestling her head against his shoulder. He rocked her back and forth. "I don't care. I'm just glad you're all right."
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Author's Note:
Has anyone else thought of this? That she can feel her own bloodstream?
That was really the only inspiration for this oneshot. I was sitting in First Aid and Emergency Care class, trying to avoid the picture on the powerpoint of the little boy with the fork sticking out of the bridge of his nose, and this idea popped out. So I wrote it.
(And apparently the little boy was okay).
COMING NEXT: "Don't Scare Me Like That"